The 2011 NBA Draft order will be set in the NBA Draft Lottery at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Twelve teams will vie for a chance to win one of the top three picks in the June draft, with the Minnesota Timberwolves taking the best odds (25 percent) into the drawing.
2011 NBA Draft Order To Be Set In Lottery
Here’s how it works: a hopper is filled with 14 balls, each numbered 1-14. The hopper will produce a four-ball combination; the 1,001 possible combinations are split among 14 teams, with teams finishing with a worse regular season record earning more combinations. (The final combination -- 11-12-13-14 -- is discarded if drawn, as it will be assigned to no team.) Whichever team owns the drawn combination wins the No. 1 pick. Handshakes are exchanged. The balls are replaced in the hopper, and four more are drawn. The keeper of this combination wins the No. 2 pick. (The team that won the No. 1 pick cannot win No. 2 or No. 3, unless the combinations are from two separate sets based on a trade.) The same happens for the No. 3 pick. At the point, all remaining teams are slotted by reverse regular season record; as such, the Wolves can pick no lower than No. 4.
The bottom 14 teams earn a trip to the lottery, but this season two of those teams -- the New Jersey Nets and Los Angeles Clippers -- have traded their first-round picks (to the Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers, respectively).
Coverage of the NBA Draft Lottery begins at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN; the actual reveal should happen around 8:42. Teams with the best chance of drawing the No. 1 pick are the Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavalier, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards.
Be sure to check back immediately after the broadcast for the full draft order.
See More:
